Sunday, July 17, 2011

A Lesson for Sinatra, an insight for all of us

Bob Greene over at CNN has a nice little story about Frank Sinatra, and his friendship with Pasquale "Patsy" Scognamillo who owned what became known in the 1950's as the singer's favorite restaurant. It seems that the men became friends when both were about to make it big, Frank in entertainment, and Patsy with his own popular restaurant. Then, when Sinatra's career tanked for a time in the early 1950's, Patsy and his restaurant became sources of comfort and support.

Patsy's grandson still runs that restaurant, and the family recounts this time justifiably with great pride. Greene writes,

A person recalls how he is treated not when he is on top of the world, undefeated, but when he is at his lowest, thinking he will never again see the sun.

This is such a good insight for all people of faith. Not only do we ourselves remember how we were treated when we were down, it is a reminder about how we treat others when they are most in need. As Greene points out, many people didn't want to be seen with Sinatra during his "down" time, but Patsy reacted with generosity and compassion. That's a good lesson for all of us, especially those of us who are deacons.

2 comments:

Thanks for your most interesting post. I have a small connection with Mr. Sinatra. My grandfather, John Murphy of Jersey City, had a very close friend - Ms. Lillian Smith (who lived to 102!) Ms. Smith was Dolly Sinatra's (Frank's mom) maid of honor. From my conversations with Lilly, I found out that Mr Sinatra was quite a generous man - especially with religious nuns who resided in Jersey City and Hoboken - keeping them above water with gifts of money and cars.

About Deacon Bill

After spending high school and college in Catholic seminary studying for the priesthood, I joined the US Navy and served for twenty-two years. My family and I lived in a variety of places around the world, and my duties involved service as a Hebrew linguist, a Russian linguist and other intelligence-related assignments. After retiring as a Commander in 1993, I have been working in a variety of ministries. I was ordained a deacon of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC in 1990 while still on active duty. As both a lay minister and now as a deacon, I have been involved in adult faith formation, jail and prison ministry, and youth ministry. Even before ordination I served as a parish life coordinator, under canon 517.2, for a small parish community in Maine while stationed at the Navy base in Winter Harbor, Maine. I have the BA (Philosophy) from St. Ambrose University, an MA (Education) from Pepperdine University, an MA (Pastoral Theology) from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and the Ph.D. (Theology) from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.